![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tilt-up.org\/tilt-uptoday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Headshot_Sauter.jpg\" "\\"Headshot_Sauter\\"")
We have closed the books on another successful TCA Annual Convention.\u00a0 While attendance wasn\u2019t as good as it was in \u201cpre-recession\u201d days, it was better than it has been the previous two years as we staged our most exciting and ambitious event ever.<\/p>\n
Outdoor exhibitions and demonstrations were added back into the mix this year with great participation and attendance.\u00a0 The phenomenal Kansas City BBQ didn\u2019t hurt.\u00a0\u00a0 On a side note, if you were around on Friday night or Saturday and didn\u2019t make it down to the American Royal Barbecue cook-off you missed an event of a lifetime.\u00a0 Over 500 BBQ competitors from all over North America gathered on the grounds of the Kemper Arena (totally filling the parking lots) \u2013 all of them cooking up some of the best BBQ you will ever smell (and taste).\u00a0 It was, after all, the World Series of BBQ.\u00a0 SpecChem invited us into their booth to sample what they were putting together and we weren\u2019t disappointed.\u00a0 I hear it gets pretty crazy as the evening progresses with nearly 250,000 in attendance over the 3-day event (party) but I was long gone by then.<\/p>\n
Seminars were timely and relevant with presentations on force protection, the Joplin Tornado, several great project profiles, government sales opportunities and David Whitlock\u2019s presentation on LUZERS.\u00a0 Barclay again provided attendees with a series of tips and techniques, any one of which could return the cost of attendance. The 21st Annual Tilt-Up Achievement Award winners were announced with yet another crop of great buildings that dispel any reservations people might have regarding perceived limitations of Tilt-Up as a building system.<\/p>\n
The most exciting thing, however, was the dedication of the Missouri Korean War Veteran\u2019s Memorial.\u00a0 This was a Tilt-Up project designed by TCA\u2019s Mitch Bloomquist with several other TCA members donating time, materials, and expertise.\u00a0 TCA was searching for a \u201creal\u201d project this year to highlight the capabilities of Tilt-Up and approached the Kansas City Parks and Recreation department about the possibility of building a park shelter or some other simple building.\u00a0 The next thing we knew, we were in the midst of a fast-track project (6 weeks of construction) of major significance to the State of Missouri and, in particular, the Veterans of the Korean War.\u00a0 The project made the front page of the Kansas City Star (the same publication that lambasted Tilt-Up as an unsafe building method) and attracted veterans, politicians, and dignitaries from across the State.<\/p>\n
The project features angular shapes and edges, polished concrete, embedded photographs, exposed aggregate, form liners and a host of other techniques which Mitch carefully wove in to a memorial worthy of the occasion.<\/p>\n
Make plans now to join us from October 2-4, 2012 as the convention returns to Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, Florida and we attempt to outdo ourselves.\u00a0 Perhaps we will build a lifeguard tower to view the beautiful sunsets at Amelia Island (a very tall tower).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"